CALGARY — Knee-jerk reactions to a recent Calgary police call involving a Taser, and ultimately a man’s death, are another example of baseless fearmongering about the device rampant in Canada, says a company official.

Although Steve Tuttle, Taser International communications vice-president, couldn’t comment on the case here last week — where a man died shortly after being arrested by cops who used a Taser in a bid to subdue him — he said it appears to be another example where “hard science and fact is overlooked” in favour of conjecture and controversy.

And, he said, it is ultimately to the detriment of taxpayers who rely on police who have the tool as one way to protect the public.

“The absolute hysteria that has grabbed Canada … borders on near insanity,” Tuttle said yesterday from Scottsdale, Ariz.

“Not one coroner in Canada has ruled any death as caused by a Taser device or even contributory to date.”

His comments come days after Gordon Bowe died shortly after being arrested by Calgary police during a Saturday night southeast break-in.

Police said the 30-year-old B.C. man was acting irrationally in the 500 block of 42 St. S.E., before he jumped through a window into a basement of a vacant duplex and a Taser was used to try and subdue him.

A police union official said Bowe, who appeared be under the influence of drugs, was hit by a Taser but only one probe struck him.

And such a scenario would render a Taser entirely ineffective, said Tuttle, explaining both a positive and negative probe on the device must make contact with an individual for it to work.

“It’s an all-or-nothing scenario,” he said.

“Either you get a circuit or you don’t … the bottom line is, you need two probes for a five-second application.”

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team is investigating the case to determine if police actions were lawful and see if the Taser strike was successful or not.

ASIRT executive director Clifton Purvis said findings could take months with investigators now waiting on a medical examiner’s report to determine cause of death.

And Tuttle said — in any case where the facts are still unfolding — it’s premature and irresponsible for speculation on the Taser’s role, if any, in a death.

“Of course, whenever you have a tragic death, emotions will run high, but you have to wait for the facts to come out,” he said.

“All that fearmongering and hysteria is jeopardizing citizens in terms of safety.”

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“Our whole family is in shock,” said Melissa Bell, a relative of Trevor Grimolfson, who family and friends have identified as the dead man.

“You see a news report and you see that police have tasered your cousin. We are sad and very angry.”

Witnesses say a man entered a pawn shop Wednesday morning in a gritty section of Edmonton’s west end and began assaulting a man inside.

“It sounded like a tractor-trailer was going through the place,” said Michelle Furoy, who works at a liquor store across the street from the pawn shop.

“You could just hear it getting trashed.”

Mr. Furoy said when police went into the shop, she heard clicking sounds of what she thought was a taser, but the commotion didn’t stop.

A short time later, she saw a man being wheeled on a stretcher into an ambulance.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team was investigating to determine what happened and whether the police officers involved should face criminal charges.

“It was reported that a conducted energy device, or taser, was deployed at the scene on two occasions, and that the taser had no effect,” said Clifton Purvis, executive director of the team, an independent organization that probes fatal incidents involving police forces in Alberta.

“I do not know whether the taser made contact with the individual or not. The individual was eventually wrestled to the ground, handcuffed, was observed in medical distress. He lost consciousness, was transported to hospital, where he was declared dead,” he said.

Police did not identify the man, but estimated that he was between 35 and 40 years of age.

Mr. Purvis is also a Alberta Justice Crown prosecutor. The serious incident investigative team includes RCMP and officers from the Edmonton and Calgary police services.

“What we are concerned about is the actions of the two police officers, whether their interaction with the deceased caused his death. If it did cause the death, it is our responsibility to determine whether there is any criminal conduct.”

Ms. Bell said their extended family is badly shaken.

“We don’t understand why they still use tasers. They obviously kill people. They may not kill everybody that they use it on. But they kill lots.”

Ms. Bell said Mr. Grimolfson is originally from Selkirk, Man., and photos and tributes to him have been posted on a social networking website.

“In memory of Trevor Grimolfson. An amazing man whose life was cut short thanks to the Edmonton Police,” says the site.

Norma Strelkov, a volunteer at a nearby Mennonite thrift store, said she saw a man she recognized as someone who had been in the store before, but didn’t know his name.

“He was very agitated, waving his arms, talking and taking giant steps,” she said.

The man, tall and covered with tattoos, continued walking up and down the street – at one point breaking into a run, she said.

“He was a very pale, almost green colour and didn’t look like he was healthy at all,” she said.

Mr. Furoy said her first clue that something was wrong was a panicked phone call she received from a stranger.

The man, named Patrick, told her he had shown up at the tattoo shop, hoping to do some work there as a casual labourer.

“He said that when he walked into the tattoo shop, there was a guy just covered in sweat. It looked like he’d just gotten out of the shower and didn’t dry off. He looked like he was out of his mind,” Mr. Furoy said.

Patrick said he saw some white powder on a table inside the shop and thought perhaps the man was high on drugs, so he tried to leave the tattoo shop, but the other man locked the door and continued to hit him.

He told Mr. Furoy he escaped when his alleged attacker left the tattoo shop and continued his rampage at Dan’s Pawnshop next door.

About two dozen people have died in Canada after being hit with tasers, which can deliver a shock of up to 50,000 volts. The company points out the devices have never been directly blamed for a death.

Several reviews on the use of stun guns are under way across the country. There is also a public inquiry into the death of a Polish immigrant who died shortly after he was tasered by RCMP officers at Vancouver’s airport last year.

The inquiry into Robert Dziekanski’s death was to resume this month, but has been postponed to Jan. 19.

A report commissioned by the RCMP said national standards, more resources and better co-ordination are needed to ensure officers are properly trained to use tasers.

Mr. Purvis said once its investigation is complete, the team will announce whether the police involved will face charges. The team will also file a report to Alberta Justice, which may or may not be made public.

A fatality inquiry will also be eventually called into the man’s death.

A Moultrie man was apprehended after he was allegedly driving a motorized wheelchair scooter at Colquitt County High School Sept. 23.

Robert Gibson, 59, of 522 27th St. S.E., Apt. 11, was charged with DUI, according to information released by the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday.

The high school’s School Resource Officer (SRO) was walking to the parking lot at the school, located on Park Avenue, about 4 p.m. Sept. 23. As he was walking through, he saw a school employee talking with Gibson, who was riding an Invacare motorized wheelchair and went over to provide assistance.

The SRO allegedly spotted an almost empty bottle of vodka on the floor of Gibson’s scooter. Gibson allegedly had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and slobbered all over his shirt, the officer reported, and he admitted to drinking alcohol when asked.

A Colquitt County sheriff’s deputy was called to the scene and gave Gibson a breath test, and it allegedly showed a .293 breath alcohol content. Gibson was then placed under arrest and taken to Colquitt Regional Medical Center for detoxification, and a blood test allegedly revealed a .405 alcohol content. After being released from the hospital, he was taken to Colquitt County Jail.

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However, seconds after Powell gets back in his patrol car things take a turn.

According to a disciplinary report Powell leaves the camera on and the microphone inside the vehicle is still on when he gets a call on his cell phone. Powell’s side of the conversation is recorded.

Here he describes a traffic stop he made involving an African American woman.

Powell: “I got this girl the other day. She had a d*** little n***** in the backseat.
This thing wasn’t even old enough to crawl yet. I know she didn’t have seatbelt on neither.”

“I was going to give her a verbal warning you know, strap that monkey in the backseat.
You got a booster seat back there, put that monkey in the booster seat.”

On the tape Powell uses profanity, racial slurs and makes sexual comments.

Powell: “Not only am I going to sexually assault her. I’m going f*** her with the d*** barrel of my d*** glock.”

The conversation was discovered on September 16th by the solicitor’s office when the DVD was being played by a defense attorney looking for a traffic stop made that day.

The DVD was then brought to the attention of the Sheriff’s office and then to Internal affairs.

The entire conversation lasts 15 minutes.

Powell: “If you hadn’t been out here running your ignorant a** Mouth you’d been on your way to wherever the f*** you’re going to buy your crack, have another baby by an illegitimate father or some other kind of sh**.”

In 2003 Powell had been disciplined for making a racist statement to an inmate. He was suspended for a day.

The 30-year-old resigned before Internal Affairs could take the recording to a review board.

A suspected bank robber is dead after being subdued by a police taser gun in Langley, B.C., Tuesday.

Langley RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen said the “conductive energy weapon” was considered appropriate because the man was thought to be armed and therefore a threat to a woman inside a residence where he had taken refuge.

Thiessen said the incident began at around 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, when the man was observed robbing a branch of the Royal Bank.

The man, who is described as being in his early 40s, was followed to a residence in Langley.

Thiessen said police were at the house when the man crashed through a second-storey window, naked and bleeding from a chest wound.

Thiessen said a Taser was deployed after a police dog failed to engage the man and he tried to re-enter the house, where a woman was still inside 

“They Tasered him,” said Thiessen. “They [police] made this decision because it was thought to be in the best interests of the public and the officers involved,” he said. The man was transported to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Thiessen could not say how soon the man died after being Tasered. A woman has since been taken into custody.

With reports by CTV British Columbia’s Michele Brunoro, Reshmi Nair, and The Canadian Press

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